BANQUET TO SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1487, 13 March 1885, Page 2

BANQUET TO SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

At the Queen’s Theatre, Christchurch, last night, the Hon Sir Julius Vogel, Colonial Treasurer and M. H, R. for Christchurch North, was entertained at a public banquet. It is estimated that there were 300 gentlemen present, including most of the leading public men of Canterbury, and fcthe spacious gallery of the Theatre was well filled with ladies. In replying to the toast of his health, Sir Julius Vogel said he was at a loss to express his feelings at the kind way in which he had been treated by the people of Christchurch, The fact that notwithI standing his absence, he was returned by the largest majority in the colony, and the generous manner in which his Committee had acted, were circumstances which he felt he could only repay by placing at their disposal to the fullest extent the poor abilities he possessed. All would agree that on the present occasion he should introduce as little controversial matter as possible, and he hoped that what he did say would not wound the feelings of any present, even though they might belong to opposite sides of the House. He would take an early opportunity, probably next week, of addressing his constituents when he would mors fully explain his views. When he returned to the colony twelve months ago he had no intention of re entering public life, but he felt so keen’y the sad position of affairs ; there seemed such a want of confidence, that he couli not resist the invitation to tty if there remained in him any of the old power, as there certainly did of the old wish, to be of benefit to the colony. Of the many proffers of seats he then received he accepted that from Christchurch, mainly because he felt the warm support manifested would be of great assistance to him. Any influence he possessed had been much increased by the warm support and advice he received from friends in Canterbury. Particulars relating to his j fining the Government and to the history of the last session would be more in place in his address to his constituents. There was one subject which so occupied the minds of men, and indeed of the fair sex, throughout the colonies, that he would not omit reference to it. Every person must be desirous of knowing the intentions of the Government as to rendering aid to the Mother Country in regard to the Soudan campaign, and also as to placing this colony in a fairly efficient condition of defence. Were the people of New Zealand to run the chance of loss, not only of that resulting from the visit of a privateer, but of that severe shock that would be felt by all, if a powerful English colony like this were lying helpless at the mercy of an enemy 1 Material losses would sink into insignificance before such humiliation as that. Ihe circumstances of New Zealand and New South Wales were so different that what was expedient in one case might not be so in the other. Firstly, nothing could give to the offer of troops from New Zealand or any other colony that freshness and spontaneity which distinguished that of New South Wales, which had stood forth as the representative of the Colonial Empire ready to aid England if necessary. Would it not be mistaken patriotism to ofier to send men to defend other parts of the Empire, when we had not done sufficient 1 1 defend ourselves ? The Government did not think anything should be done without consulting Parliament. If it were decided to send men to the Soudan, no doubt a very fine body might be sent. In defending this colony we were defending the interest of the whole Empire, for our disasters or successes would have an effect throughout that Empire. He looked upon these colonies as nurseries for the future defence of the Empire, and felt that we should be doing the best thing for the glory of the British Crown by raising up men capable of both extending the prosperity of the colonies and of defending the honor of the British in these seas. The Government had determined to propose a definite scheme by which, within a reasonable time, they would put into an efficient condition of defence the four principal harbors of Now Zealand, viz., Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Dunedin; It was not, however, enough to say they intended making these proposals to Parliament. The present was a stirring time, when there was more or less emergency. No time, therefore, must be lost in mounting the guns now in the colony. He (Sir Julius) could not help feeling that while he would not in the smallest degree derogate from the patriotic action of New South Wales, the Soudan war, apart from the necessity of avenging Gordon, was not one which would excite much enthusiasm throughout the Empire. It might, however, be well for Parliament to consider whether this colony could not contribute, not men—whom the solony could not spare—but perhaps money or produce for the aid of the troops fighting in the desert. - Referring to the East and West Coast Railway, he said it was not new to the greater part of them that he was a great and ardent believer in it. He had committed himself to it when he stood before them, and had told them fairly that, in his opinion, we should first seek to have it done by private enterprise, and if it could not bo done In that way, it was a work that ought to be done by the colony. He might say that the more he thought of it the more convinced he was of the justice of the view he had taken. And this view was taken by his colleagues, two of whom—Messrs Stout and Larnaoh—had just been on a visit to the West Coast, and, he was happy to say, had become as enthusiastic as himself. He thought he mjght embody their opinion in half-a-dozen words by saying they had come back with the idea that it would be sinful to neglect the development of the West Coast. And they would allow him, perhaps, to say, as he had referred to the name of the latest member of the Minis-

try, the Hon the Minister of Mines, that he (Sir Julius) thought it was of the utmost importance to the colony that | mining should be duly encouraged. In I selecting Mr Larnach to take the position of Minister of Mines the Government had selected one who would make a nice discrimination as to the limits within which assistance should be given to this important industry. He was quite sure the Government would not only have performed a duty to the colony, but also done a benefit to the whole world if they could succeed in bringing to light the vast deposits of gold which he believed still to exist in the colony. A large amount of the distress existing in the world was due to the depreciation and waste of the universal legal tender. The discovery of additional gold mines here would have a beneficial effect. They had only to see the assistance which Victoria gave in the shape of diamond drills. One of the principal causes of the change in circumstances that Victoria was now enjoying, was due to the encouragement given by the Government to mining industries. Victoria was now one of the mopt. prosperous of the colonies —from having been a few > ears ago one of the most depressed, 4- considerable portion of her prosperity was due to the fact that the colony had a Government which seemed to understand her wants. He did not agree with those who alleged that the prospeJi" ? f a colon y we , re not “tooted by the prudence of those wuu "? n Juoted Government. Now, he did not think that it was necessary foy him to point out the fact than wten this railway to the West Coast was, be would not say finished, but in course of construction, it would bring vast trade to Christchurch, and would

:i vakea a vast amount of productive ent ' prise, which would do good not only to J . istchurch, but the whole of that stjrip uf the Island which was known as tfye Eagt ooa§t. The people here would haTQ of their I tg i

ducts for those of the West Coast. The timber trade alone would be enormous, and he did not think it would be easy to magnify the extent it would reach when the railways were in progress and the har« bora of the West C >ast were made equal to the acommadation of large steamers and i hips. He had recently been on a visit to Auckland, and when he saw the

gigantic proportions which the timber trade had reached there, and its effect on the whole distr ; ct he thought that he could not exaggerate the effects that would follow whan they were able to export not only rei pine, which he be* lieved would be found merchantable, not only in the colonies, but elsewhere, but •also the black birch, which he believed would be found one of the most valuable* i trees of the country. And now as to the question of what were the probabilities of this railway being carried out by a com- | pany in England. He thought they were fairly good ; and it would be interesting to them to know that on Wednesday ha had telegraphed to the Agent*General to know what the delegates were doing, and he had that afternoon received a reply he thought they would think satisfactory: “ Delegates working discreetly and safely. Tentative steps necessary at present. Please inform Canterbury and Nelson.” Now, he thought that telegram was very satisfactory. It showed moat of all that that they were working harmoniously with, and to a certain extent, it might be supposed, with the aid of, the AgentGeneral ; and secondly, it showed that they had a knowledge of what they were doing, and that they were not idle. He was convinced himself that it would be best if carried out by private enterprise, but at the same time ha was of opinion tha% if it was not, it was a railway that the colony would . have to undertake to construct itself. He would like to refer to another question which was of great interest to the colony. He had heard it said, that an endeavor would be made to get up an opposition between town and country on the subject of local government. He hoped no such idea was entertained, for a greater fallacy than to suppose an antagonism between the interests of town and country could not be found, for the prosperity of the country depended upon the prosperity of every part. At Auckland, when addressing a meeting, he had thrown oat the idea that the Government would consult the Chairmen of County Councils and the Mayors of Municipalities ; but this Idea had been abandoned, as the Hovernmoht had made up their minds as to what they would sumbit to Parliament. The scheme would provide for only two local bodies—* the Municipalities and the County Councils—having to be dealt with. Obviously it must be so arranged as to give the subdivisions of the Counties power and control over funds. Whilst agreeing to this it was the opinion of the Government that the local bodies should have separate and ' reliable functions, and not have to come up to the Assembly as suppliants—he would not use the word “ beggars”—asking for this road and that bridge. They wanted to foster a spirit of self-reliance in the local districts, and (this could only be done by placing them in possession of means for their own wants. The main objects of local government were the effecting of local improvements in the shape of roads and bridges, and attending to sanitary objects. The last term 1 had a very wide range of meaning, and included attention to the dwellings of the laboring classes, the progress of settlement on the land, aud that suggestion in the report of the Unemployed Commission—the formation of village settlements. The Government was deeply impressed with the necessity of planting the working population on the land, from which they might add to their incomes by gardening and bee farming They considered that such settlement in the neighborhood of largo towns would prevent a recurrence of the unemployed difficulty. They were not blind to the fact also that it was necessary for colonists to use their own productions as much as possible, and to buy less from the foreign market. He was glad to be able to say that his colleague, Mr Ballance, who was an enthusiast on the subiect of village settlements, would be down here in two or three weeks’ time, and {would be able to arrange with the local authorities for a fair trial being given to the system. He denied that there was any possibility of a return to ' the Provincial system, which was absolutely dead, but the Government thought that one feature of it might, in some sort, be revived; that feature was the delegation of certain powers to the local bodies, in some instances, though the principle would not apply to all. They thought that the police, which, for the sake of economy, had a central organisation, might be more under the control of the local bodies. To sum up, he would say that the principles were, first, to make as little of a sudden wrench in changing as possible; next, to do whatever was dona - in harmony with the feelings of the local bodies themselves, and lastly, to so arrange that whatever was done might be of an elastic nature, so that it should not follow that what was suitable for ' one part of the colony should be arbitrarily applied to another. Ha paid a warm tribute to the memory of William Sefton Mcorhouse, remarking that he felt that the proposals of the Government in 1869 were not so large in proportion as the heroic proposals made to a mere handful of people to construct the Lyttelton tunnel. Canterbury should also be proud of the fact that the local New Zealand Shipping Company had been the pioneer of direst steam. He would not, however, undervalue the services of the Shaw-Savill and Albion Company, but must express his deep regret at the death of one of their directors, Mr Galbraith. With regard to the management of the railways, the people of Christchurch had that day seen a sight which they would not perhaps have seen had not the Stout-Yoge! Government bean in power—the large number of visitors from Timaru. Cheap excursion trains'were 4 part of the policy introduced by tfyoHon. B. Biohardsqn. not without consideration and great opposition. These trains inaugurated a new era of railway management. The Government’s idea was that it was better that six persona should contribute to railways thanthst one should do so; therefore thay strove to induce the ' public to use the linos. He believed, however, that they would not get an absolutely satisfactory management of the railways, no matter how good the Minister, till they were vested in non-politioai .. boards. The Government were of opinion generally, that, in order to prevent scrambling for new lines, it should-be distinctly understood as soon as possible what were to be considered as trunk lines, though it was not to be expected that* these were, therefore, to be made all at once. If the colony was to be protected from scrambling the persons asking for railways should be prepared to bear part of the coat. ' Dealing with the subject of finance,' Sir Julius said that the brilliant success of the last million Idan was a coni-

piece vindication of the policy of the Government last session. Information at his

hand led him to believe that New Zealand

in comparison with other countries, - was exceptionally prosperous. Auckland and other parts of the Horth Island were ex ceeaingiy prosperous, SP* it was not to be* expected that the depression would tong continue to rage in other portions of -the colony. He : condludad" by again yhrmly thanking the people of Obristoburch for their kindly reception. ' J

The speech of the Colonial Treasurer was received with great approbation throughout, and at the close tvas loudly applaudetl.